The Amber Sword

The unpleasant tone used by the guy in the room made the knight tense up, and he looked back to ask Brendel for help.

“Tell him it was the fault of the people managing the stables. They had personally swapped out the black beans for the common grass as feed.” Brendel calmly stated. He knew that the Beinold horses were very expensive, and that their feed would have been high grade as well. The hay was supposed to be mixed with beans from the Suren Plains. Feeding them anything besides that would have caused some major problems.

The knight replied as suggested, his hurrying and panicked tone convinced the person behind the door. He did not suspect anything to be wrong. After all, this is Ampere Seale. What could go wrong? He answered, “So bothersome. Wait for me to come out.”

There were sounds of a shirt rustling from behind the door, and after a while, the door opened. He was about to reprimand his underling for not doing his job well and push the blame onto him when Brendel, Andrea, and Morpheus rushed into the room.

Enemies! It was only then that the captain realized. He had made a name for himself in the Hoarfrost Manor since a long time ago, and became a captain at a young age. With his vast amount of experience, he had gotten used to carrying a sword around him. By the time Brendel and the others rushed in, he had already pulled out his sword.

Lonin’s reaction speed was so fast that even Brendel was shocked.  It was so fast that it would have been able to take care of other enemies… But Brendel and the others were not the normal people you would meet every day.

On Brendel’s side, they had three people at or above the Gold rank against one Lonin, who was also a Gold ranker. In a one versus one against Andrea or Morpheus, they would have won due to their racial advantage. Brendel on the other hand was on a whole new league by himself; even facing an Elemental Awakener, he would be able to put up a good fight.

Devard was an example of that.

When Brendel acted, Lonin was taken aback. This young boy’s swordsmanship is a whole level above me. I have to call for help from the others-

“World of Silence.”

From the outside, Ciel cast a spell on the room, building a barrier of about 20 feet. Inside the World of Silence, every noise was muted to the outside world. The noise from the sword clashes between Brendel and Lonin was canceled. It was a truly mystifying scene, but Lonin had other pressuring matters at hand. When the barrier had been set, all three of them upped their game, forcing Lonin to surrender unconditionally.

Lonin did not want to do that, but he did not have a choice either or else he would have lost his hand, or even worse, his life. So, he threw away the sword and raised both his hands up in surrender.

Brendel stopped attacking and pointed, with his sword, at Lonin’s heart. This man seems to uphold the values of nobility. He did not throw away his sword immediately, but only after seeing that he did not have any chance of surviving. This was truly rigid and impractical.

But that was the reality for the people in this era. No one expected their knights to do much for their lords anyway. It was hard to find someone who was willing to sacrifice their own life for their master. This scene reminded him of the cowardly knights who ran away back in Fortress Riedon and comparing them left a bitter taste in Brendel’s mouth.

“Who’re you guys?” Lonin asked with a sharp gaze.

“That does not concern you,” Brendel answered. “I need your master’s help to complete something, but I swear that I will not do anything to harm him.”

“Our master will not answer to your request, you hooligans.”

Brendel shifted his shoulders when he heard the word ‘hooligans’. But he did not have the time to care about it, “I’m in charge of the situation now. In actual fact, we don’t need you guys to do anything besides waiting here.”

Lonin looked at everyone around him.

“I cannot speak on behalf of my master.”

“That’s fine. I just need you to lure out another Gold ranker and everything would be fine. Don’t worry, I will only restrain him.” Brendel continued, “As I know it, there are three people around your strength in the manor. Besides you and the guard by Count Yanbao’s side, the other one should be on the second floor. With your identity, I presume you can go up there?”

Lonin stayed quiet. He glared at the knight behind Brendel. He knew it was that knight that told Brendel everything. But upon some consideration, he shook his head, “Forgive me for not accepting your deal, but I cannot go against my own beliefs.”

Brendel could not help but be surprised by the reply. There were only a rare few that would persist in their beliefs within Aouine. Before meeting Kodan, he thought only the Princess, Freya and himself were the only ones who did.

He sheathed his sword and nodded, “Alright, I respect your decision.”

Lonin was shocked. He did not expect a bandit to just intrude into his house and say such good things. So he raised his eyebrows, “What are you playing at? Just know that without my help, you will never be able to reach the second floor. And from the looks of it, you all are trying to not get any attention.”

“But I do not have a choice,” Brendel answered. “I have confidence that I can control the situation in a short period of time. But if possible, it is true that I would prefer not to attract attention from the others.”

The man’s lips began to curl, his eyebrows tightened. Brendel’s words seemed to have met his expectations and so he said, “I believe you understand the consequences of harming a noble in an area managed by the Holy Cathedral, and there has never been a bandit who has done so in the past hundred years.”

Brendel gave an unrelenting look and said, “You’re making two mistakes sir. The first, we’re not some hooligans or bandits. And second, we’re not cowards.” With that said, Brendel had made up his mind. The meeting will start in two days, and I will not allow the same disaster that played out back then to happen again.

Back in The Amber Sword, he had partnered with the Princess, the War Goddess, and many other outstanding NPCs, but during this run, he would have to handle everything by himself.

Lonin saw the raging persistence in Brendel’s eyes, and wondered, Where did this young person come from? He does not seem like the usual bandit to me.

And he just sighed, “Are you from the Lekin family?”

Lekin family? Why do I feel like I have heard of that name before? Brendel thought. But it did not matter to him anyway, for he was sure it was not a prominent family in Kirrlutz or Aouine.

But when did Count Yoakam have ties with that family? And looking at Lonin’s nervous looks, it seems like it has something to do with that abnormal attitude Count Yoakam had back during the meeting within the game.

But that had nothing to do with Brendel, so he just denied, “Of course not.”

“Then are you guys rebels?” Lonin’s eyebrows loosened a bit but they were still a little tight, and because he heard the news of the rebels attempting to manipulate the nobles, he asked that question. The knight behind Brendel suddenly turned pale. To him, there was only one type of people in Aouine who dared to ignore an oath to Marsha’s name.

The rebels.

Does that mean that his promise to not kill me just now is invalid?he started to shiver.

But Brendel shook his head again, “I still believe in Marsha, and I find the Twilight Dragon to be a source of chaos.”

Finally, Lonin breathed out a sigh of relief, “then you just have to swear in Marsha’s name before us that you’ll complete the promises you made just now. And then I will help you to convince Count Yanbao.”

“You agree to our terms?”

The knight captain just smiled. How could he disagree? He realized just how strong Brendel was from their bout just now, and he knew that the three Gold rankers under Count Yanbao were no match for him. Since he himself had been compromised, Count Yanbao could only mobilize two of his Gold rankers. And if he let Brendel roam free, there was no doubt that this place might become a bloodbath.

Seems like this is the only option I have.

Lonin sighed once more. Yanbao’s family was once the second biggest, if not the biggest powerhouse in Aouine. During its peak, they had two experts who had awakened their Elements and that had made them comparable to Duke Arreck. But unexpectedly, in just a couple hundreds years, the family had degraded to this degree. Down to the point that no one would even bother too much to come and bully them.

What a disgrace.

The knight captain thought up until there and was about to give his reply, when suddenly, a loud explosion was heard from above, causing the entire building to jolt. Brendel panicked and looked up at the ceiling. That explosion came from the second floor. Don’t tell me that something is happening outside?

But just what could have happened? Don’t tell me that Romaine is so brave to have cast a fireball at the manor?

But calling it a fireball would have been an understatement. It was more like someone had summoned a meteor.

All sorts of thoughts flashed through Brendel’s mind, as he turned to look back down the corridor ablaze. And the guards who were sleeping before now came rushing out.

Brendel’s complexion paled and he shouted, “Quick! Close the door!”